Description Seasonal cross-shore gradients in sea level atmospheric pressure produce the alongshore winds that drive coastal upwelling and downwelling in the CCE. Upwelling, driven by equatorward-blowing winds, is a physical process of lifting cold, nutrient- rich water from deep in the ocean to the surface. Upwelling fuels the high seasonal primary production at the base of the CCE food web. The timing, strength, and duration of upwelling vary greatly along the coast.
Metafile name /home/isaac/Work/IEA/2024/tech_document/CCIEA_metadata_2024-09-26.xlsx
Indicator Category Climate and Ocean Drivers
Data Steward Schroeder
Erddap Dataset ID cciea_OC_BEUTI
CCIEA timeseries ID cciea_OC_CUTI, cciea_OC_BEUTI
Region cciea_OC_CUTI_45, cciea_OC_CUTI_39, cciea_OC_CUTI_33, cciea_OC_BEUTI_45, cciea_OC_BEUTI_39, cciea_OC_BEUTI_33
Public availability statement Source data are publicly available.
Bakun UI is derived from geostrophic estimates fro winds derived from FNMOC sealevel pressure estimates.
Additional Information new estimates of coastal upwelling, specifically the vertical water volume transport (Coastal Upwelling Transport Index; CUTI) and the vertical nitrate flux (Biologically Effective Upwelling Transport Index; BEUTI). We now use these indices to describe upwelling in the CCE reports, as they better represent surface winds, ocean circulation, and subsurface variability. CUTI provides more accurate estimates of vertical transport of water. BEUTI provides additional information about the nature of the upwelled water (e.g., its nitrate content) that can be linked to ecological processes such as productivity Jacox et al. (2018).
Daily values of CUTI and BEUTI are derived from numerical model outputs described in Jacox et al. (2018). Detailed information about these indices can be found at https://mjacox.com/upwelling-indices/.
Figures
Figure 8.1: Daily values of Coastal Upwelling Transport Index (CUTI; left) and Biologically Effective Upwelling Transport Index (BEUTI; right) starting January 1 to October 30, 2024. Daily data are smoothed with a 10-day running mean. Both time series are shown in relation to the 1988–2024 climatology average (blue dashed line), ±1 SD (shaded area), at latitudes 33°N, 39°N, and 45°N.
(a) Cuti 45°N
(b) Cuti 39°N
(c) Cuti 33°N
Figure 8.2: Seasonal averages of CUTI.
(a) Beuti 45°N
(b) Beuti 39°N
(c) Beuti 33°N
Figure 8.3: Seasonal averages of BEUTI.
Figure 8.4: CUI curves for the Bakun UI, which for each year is the cumulative sum of the daily UI values. The historic record starting in 1967 is shown in gray and the last 4 years are colored. The CUI figure used in the CalCOFI State of the CC report.
Jacox, Michael G, Christopher A Edwards, Elliott L Hazen, and Steven J Bograd. 2018. “Coastal Upwelling Revisited: Ekman, Bakun, and Improved Upwelling Indices for the US West Coast.”Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 (10): 7332–50.